id the old man anxiously.

"Didn't I tell you I'd been dreaming? I saw them in crowds. Don't you
hurry me, Billy. Let's sit here a minute and talk about old times." She
blinked her eyes awake again and looked at him reassuringly. "You
mustn't think I don't want to go, Billy. I do. I'm a little tired, but
I'm all keyed up to go. I'm perfectly sure we shall have a lovely
time,--the loveliest time that ever was."

"The voyage will do you good," he said, in the same affectionate
concern. "The maid will meet us on the pier. And once in London, you'll
be the centre of the crowd."

"Fancy! And Electra shall come over from Paris, and you'll make love to
me, to shock her. Billy, isn't it queer I didn't dream of Charlie Grant
this morning?"

"Why, Florrie? Why should you?"

"Because they were all there, crowds of them I haven't told you about.
But not he. I suppose he was with Bessie Grant. Billy, it was when I
gave him up, my life went wrong."

"Yes, dear, you told me so."

"It wasn't that I couldn't bear to lose him. I never broke my heart. It
was because I made a bad choice,--a bad choice. I said deliberately I
wanted the world and the things the world can give. Everything began
when I gave him up."

"Time's going, Florrie. The parson will be there."

"Yes. Don't hurry me. Do you suppose we find things because we believe
in them?"

"What things, dear?"

"Will Bessie Grant have heaven because she believes in it? Will she find
him because she thinks he's there?"

"Come, dear, wake up."

"Well!" The old lady roused herself. The light came back to her eyes,
the old smile to her lips.

"I'll tell you what, Billy," said she, "there's one thing I swear I
never will forget. Living or dying, I never will."

"What is it?"

"I never'll forget you saw me an old woman and treated me like a young
one. I never'll forget you did your best to bring back my lost youth.
And if there is a heaven and I set foot in it, and they bring up their
archangels, I'll say, 'Away with you and your fine company. Where's
Billy Stark?'"

But the light faded as she spoke and her face changed mysteriously, in a
way he did not like. A clever thought came to him.

"Florrie," said he, "have you had your luncheon?"

"I guess not."

"Have you been sitting here ever since Electra went, dreaming and
starving?"

"I guess so."

"Well, that's it. Now you get on your two feet and take my arm and come
over to Bessie Grant's. And she'll give yo